Chapter 49, The Third Story (9)
Qin Chu narrowed his eyes.
He struggled slightly and discovered that his wrists were tied together. The knot was cleverly tied, with each wrist looped around the other, and then pulled hard when he wasn't looking, binding his hands behind his back.
The person who had previously buried their face in the pillow, sounding like they were about to cry, was now propped up and smiling at him.
The rope wasn't particularly strong, and the attack wasn't particularly dangerous. It didn't seem like they wanted to kill him, and it didn't reach the level that would make Qin Chu feel threatened or on guard.
Qin Chu was confused. He frowned and stared at Qi Xuan, asking sincerely, "What exactly do you want to do?"
Qi Xuan: "..." Do you really not understand or are you pretending not to understand?
Facing Qin Chu's calm, clear, and puzzled gaze, Qi Xuan felt a strange, familiar sense of powerlessness, making him want to laugh uncontrollably: "But Mr. Lu, you asked me to stay overnight, and now you're asking me what I need?"
Qi Xuan held the bandage in his hand, his forehead pressed against Qin Chu's ear, and a low laugh drifted over.
The gesture was too intimate, causing Qin Chu's already furrowed brows to furrow even more, and he shifted his neck to move aside. After thinking for a moment, assuming that Qi Xuan was still uneasy about his identity, he said, "I am not a member of the Qi family. As I said before, my purpose is to protect you."
Qi Xuan raised his head, looking at Qin Chu with a smile in his eyes. When he heard Qin Chu finish the sentence, he said, "Repeat this sentence again."
Qin Chu raised an eyebrow: "My purpose is to protect you?"
Qi Xuan found the audio enjoyable and wanted to record it on his phone for repeated playback.
Qin Chu quickly added, "I did contact your second brother, but..."
Before Qin Chu could finish speaking, Qi Xuan tugged hard on the rope to stop him, complaining, "Why bring him up? Don't mention anyone else. Watch me."
Qin Chu: "..."
General Qin couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Is he crazy?"
After waiting for a long time without Noah saying a word, an electronic voice announced: "Privacy mode is now enabled. You may choose to disable privacy mode or leave a message."
Qin Chu: "..." What the hell is this thing now?
After staring at the bound man for a long time, Qi Xuan leaned close to his ear and asked, "Mr. Lu, do you really not know what I want to do?"
Qin Chu looked at him but didn't reply, his expression still cold and robotic.
Qi Xuan's restlessness had long since subsided, but it was as if a mischievous monkey had jumped out, determined to cause trouble, preferably to make someone angry, curse, or even... cry.
He smirked, holding the square paper bag he'd been holding in his hand, now almost warm, against Qin Chu's lips, and whispered, "I'll tell you once you bite it open."
Qin Chu's eyebrows shot up instantly.
As it turned out, General Qin was just a bit slow-witted, but not stupid.
Through his relentless self-destructive behavior, President Qi successfully earned himself a severe beating.
The next morning, as a mature system, Noah precisely timed the activation of privacy mode. And then... then he saw President Qi tied to the bed.
Noah remained silent for a moment.
To some extent, the current situation was not unexpected. However... he did not expect it to be so intense.
Qin Chu was sitting on the bed adjusting the collar of his shirt.
This was unusual for Qin Chu, as he was never one to linger in bed and was quick and efficient at dressing, so there was no need for him to sit on the bed to get dressed.
This unusual behavior made Noah curious about what had happened the previous night.
But Qin Chu quickly answered Noah's question, asking in a cool tone, "How's the progress of the small task? Is it full? I'll get up if it is."
Noah: "..."
Very well, so sitting on the bed was to fulfill the literal meaning of "sharing a bed and pillows"... It seems that tying President Qi to the bed also serves the same purpose.
Looking at the progress bar, it's 96%.
Qin Chu patiently sat on the bed and racked up points for a while.
He could sit still, but Qi Xuan, who was bound hand and foot, couldn't lie down.
Qi Xuan tapped the bed with his only movable finger: "Hey, is it really that serious? I just kissed you once, and you tied me up all night."
Qin Chu didn't even glance at him, calmly sitting there racking up points.
Qi Xuan's smile vanished: "I'm not kidding, let it go, I need to go to the restroom."
This time, Qin Chu glanced at him, but everything was based on the progress bar, and he had no intention of loosening the restraint at all. He only said coldly, "Hold it in."
Qi Xuan: "..."
Is this a matter of whether or not you want to hold it in?
It's dangerous early in the morning, and they won't let him go to the toilet. What if he embarrasses himself? They didn't even cover him with a corner of the blanket.
Fortunately, before President Qi made a fool of himself, the progress bar finally reached 100% albeit with some difficulty.
Qin Chu then took pity on the man and took the knife to cut the rope. But before his hand even touched the edge of the rope, the bound man protested: "Tsk, throw the knife to me, I'll do it myself."
He muttered under his breath, "I can't take your touch right now."
Qin Chu was happy to have some peace and quiet, so he threw the knife away and turned to leave.
After Qi Xuan dawdled through his personal matters, he came out to find the culprit had finished washing up and was carrying a bottle of water, clearly heading to the gym.
After a tumultuous night, the man remained unchanged, showing not even a hint of embarrassment or discomfort. He was like a stubborn, unmelting snowflake on a mountaintop, untouched by any worldly desires.
This performance made Qi Xuan's obsessive side resurface.
He thought, one day...
"Ding-dong~"
The villa's electronic doorbell rang.
Li Hui stood outside the villa gate, his face filled with bitterness and resentment.
After escaping from here yesterday, he had absolutely no desire to return. But what could he do? The boss was left here, and both the Qi family and Kaiheng had a mountain of problems to deal with.
Since his other subordinates were unaware of the situation, Li Hui had no choice but to put himself in the shoes once again.
He was shrewd enough not to come empty-handed, but instead specially ordered breakfast in hopes of appeasing the great demon king living inside.
Thinking of this, Li Hui couldn't help but take two steps back and look at the entire villa.
Why did he think this was keeping a mistress in a golden house?
Whose little darling is so fierce!
This is clearly the lair of a fire-breathing dragon.
Li Hui had been lingering outside the door with breakfast in his hand for quite a while, until he estimated that it was about time before he finally rang the doorbell.
To Li Hui's surprise, the door opened after only two rings of the doorbell, and he was met with his boss's bruised face...
His face was clearly badly beaten; his right cheek was swollen, and his left cheek was covered in bruises, making the long scar seem less frightening.
"Boss, you, you..."
Li Hui's lips trembled with fear, his feet dangling in mid-air, unsure whether to land. Their boss was quite skilled; how had he been beaten like this?
Qi Xuan didn't seem to think anything of it. He stroked his chin and even smiled, saying, "I tried to steal a chicken tonight but ended up losing the rice instead."
Li Hui: "..."
For a moment, he didn't know whether to marvel at their audacity in climbing into Mr. Lu's bed, or to admire Mr. Lu's sheer audacity in showing no mercy to anyone.
"Who is it?" came a voice from inside the living room.
Qi Xuan reached out and took the breakfast from Li Hui's hand, turned around and replied with a smile, "Delivering takeout."
As he spoke, he was about to close the door.
In just one day, Li Hui went from being "President Qi" to "a deliveryman." He paused for a moment before hurriedly blocking the door: "Hey, wait a minute, boss, you can't just ignore the important matters. Now the Qi family all know you're the one causing trouble, and the Qi Corporation is in complete chaos!"
Qi Xuan was clearly not very interested in business matters. He pretended not to hear and reached out to close the door.
At that moment, a cold voice came from inside the door: "Let him in."
Qi Xuan loosened his grip and turned to the living room, saying, "Yeah, let him change his shoes."
Li Hui, who had just squeezed through the door: "..."
He felt he should find a different powerful figure to rely on.
After Li Hui came in, he quietly examined Qin Chu's physical condition and finally concluded that their boss had been completely defeated last night.
This left Li Hui with very mixed feelings. On one hand, he felt an indescribable sense of regret, and on the other hand, he felt a strange sense of satisfaction that Qi Xuan had finally fallen.
While the two were having breakfast, Li Hui hurriedly told Qi Xuan about the situation at the company: "Kaiheng is doing okay, just some public opinion and some reporters who didn't make appointments want to interview you. But Qi's is really in chaos. Several of your uncles and aunts brought their families to the company to cause trouble, and the employees are all panicking. Now that I've taken off my mask, it's not easy for me to manage things..."
Qi Xuan was clearly uninterested. He eagerly placed a xiaolongbao (soup dumpling) on Qin Chu's plate, only to be completely ignored. He then responded to Li Hui, "Let them make a fuss. The original plan remains the same. There's no reason to take things back halfway. Work at Qi's Group is proceeding normally. You're my assistant, why can't you manage things?"
This means that he will not be making any public appearances for the time being.
Li Hui looked worried, thinking to himself that he couldn't possibly hold on like this; the Qi family members were practically ready to scratch his face.
At this moment, Qin Chu lifted her eyelids and glanced at Qi Xuan: "Aren't you going to the company?"
Li Hui's hopes were immediately raised, but to his surprise, Qi Xuan refused very decisively: "No."
This made Li Hui's heart flutter. He thought to himself that their boss seemed to be alright. He hadn't been seduced by beautiful women and was still very calm about company matters.
No sooner had he drawn his conclusion than he saw Qi Xuan put down his spoon and lean towards Qin Chu: "See, isn't this all your fault?"
He pointed to his bruised and swollen face: "You beat me up like this, how am I supposed to go to the company?"
"No, you have to take responsibility for me right now!"
Li Hui: "..."
Qin Chu's hand trembled; he almost wanted to throw the porridge in the guy's face. He coldly mocked, "Didn't you like changing faces? You still care about this?"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Qi Xuan stopped causing trouble and started talking to Li Hui about serious company matters again.
Qin Chu finished his breakfast in a few bites, subtly observing Qi Xuan. While Qi Xuan was speaking, he suddenly called out, "Zhao Yuan."
Qi Xuan was clearly taken aback, and after two seconds he turned to look at Qin Chu: "Are you calling me?"
He laughed as he spoke, "I just mentioned the name casually, I didn't expect you to remember it."